Can Marroig sees return to traditional farming

Foto signatura conveniEarlier today in the plenary hall of the Formentera Council (CiF), administration president Jaume Ferrer met with Vicenç Vidal, regional environment minister of the Govern Balear and president of Institut Balear de la Natura (IBANAT), to sign off on an agreement giving Formentera use rights over a stretch of public land in Can Marroig. Ownership of the parcel is held by IBANAT. Also present at the signing were CiF councillor of rural affairs Bartomeu Escandell and IBANAT chair Ramón Villalonga.

The goal of the five-year renewable agreement is to give the land an agricultural use. President Ferrer voiced his hope that stewardship of the parcel go to the Formentera Farmers' Co-operative. The president said control of the 12-hectare plot had for some time been the object of petitions by the Formentera Council. The land will be worked and maintained using environmentally-friendly methods.

Govern Balear minister Vidal called the renewed agricultural use of the land a milestone and underscored the importance of conserving Formentera's biodiversity. He celebrated it as “the first case we've had of public land being given this kind of productive use.” Care of the parcel will be incorporated into the Farmland Reserve project of the Formentera Farmers' Co-operative. The land-use revival project was launched in March 2015 and today includes a register of 140 hectares. Through its support of the Farmers' Co-op and initiatives like the Farmland Reserve, the Council invests in the renewal of Formentera's primary sector and protecting the island's natural beauty.